Mechanization of crop establishment, harvest, and post-harvest conservation of Miscanthus sinensis Giganteus

Abstract In 1993 research was carried out on the mechanization and conservation of the fibre crop Miscanthus sinensis Giganteus hort. (Jelitto et al., 1990). A large part of the production costs are caused by the costs of mechanization. For establishing a new crop with plantlets a central-drive plant machine was used. The other method for establishing a new crop was using rhizomes. Harvesting of the rhizomes can easily be done using a rotary cultivator for cutting the rhizomes and a lilybulb harvester or potato harvester for harvesting. Emergence between 70% and 95% was obtained by planting the harvested rhizomes right after harvesting and sorting. For harvesting the crop in spring, standard available machines were used. To ensure a year-round delivery of material to a processing plant, storage of harvested material on the farm is necessary. Storage of chopped material in outside piles is possible. Storage of chopped material in ventilated facilities makes drying possible. Laboratory experiments show that under normal storage conditions, i.e. 10 to 20°C and 80% relative air humidity, it takes more than 300 days before filamentous fungi appear. Determination of the sorption isotherms gives an indication of the behaviour of the material in storage. Experiments with silage of Miscanthus show that this conservation method can be used.